From the watering place of São Bras Houtman continued his voyage, and reached Sumatra safely. He next visited Bantam in the island of Java, where, owing to the influence of Portuguese traders, he and several of his attendants were made prisoners and were only released on payment of a ransom of £400. Some other ports of Java were visited, as were also Madura and Bali, and a small quantity of spice was purchased, but there were many quarrels and some combats with the natives. So many men died that it was necessary to burn the Amsterdam, which ship was much decayed, and strengthen the crews of the other three vessels. Houtman then left to return home, and reached Texel on the 14th of August 1597, after an absence of over twenty-eight months.
Financially the first venture of the Dutch to the Indies was not a success, but the spirit of enterprise was excited by it, and immediately trading companies began to be formed in different towns of Holland and Zeeland, and fleets were fitted out with the object of opening up an eastern trade. It will not be necessary to give an account of all these companies, but mention must be made of some of the fleets.
On the 15th of March 1598 two ships, the Leeuw and the Leeuwin, sailed from Vlissingen under command of Cornelis Houtman. In the Leeuw the famous English seaman John Davis was chief pilot, that is sailing master. They put into the watering place of Saldanha for refreshment, where Davis, in his account of the voyage, says that the Hottentots fell by surprise upon the men who were ashore bartering cattle, and killed thirteen of them. In his narrative Davis says that at Cape Agulhas the magnetic needle was without variation, but in his sailing directions, written after another voyage to India, he says: “At False Cape there is no variation that I can find by observing south from it. The variation of Cape Agulhas is thirty minutes from north to west. And at the Cape of Good Hope the compass is varied from north to east five and twenty minutes.” At Atchin about a hundred and fifty tons of pepper were purchased and taken in, but on the 1st of September 1599 a party of Sumatrans went on board the two ships and suddenly drew their weapons and murdered Cornelis Houtman and many others. In both ships they were ultimately driven off with heavy loss. Some men were on shore at the time, and they also were attacked, when eight were made prisoners and the others were killed. Altogether sixty white men lost their lives on this occasion. There was no further attempt to trade or to explore, and after a voyage marked by loss the expedition reached home again on the 29th of July 1600.
Historical Sketches.
On the 1st of May 1598 Jacob van Nek sailed from Texel with six large ships and two yachts. Second in command was Wybrand van Waerwyk, and third in rank was Jacob van Heemskerk, who had only returned from his terrible sojourn in the polar sea six months before. This voyage was an eminently successful one. Four of the ships were speedily sent home fully laden with pepper and valuable spices obtained at Bantam; two others purchased cargoes at Banda, and when they sailed left twenty men behind with money and goods to trade until the arrival of another fleet; and the remaining two procured cargoes at Ternate, and left six men there to trade when they sailed. All reached home in safety, with the most valuable cargoes that had ever entered a Netherlands port.
On the 13th of September 1598 Olivier van Noort sailed from Goeree with two ships and two yachts, having in all two hundred and forty-eight souls on board, with the intention of ascertaining whether a western route to India would not be preferable to that round the Cape of Good Hope. It was necessary to burn one of the yachts on the passage, and one of the ships parted company after passing through the straits of Magellan and was never seen again. On the western coast of South America Van Noort destroyed several trading vessels, and then set his course for Manilla. Off that harbour, on the 14th of December 1600, two large galleons attacked him, when the yacht Eendracht sailed away, drawing one of the galleons in pursuit. The Mauritius engaged the other, and after a stubborn combat succeeded in sinking her. As she was going down some two hundred men jumped overboard, but instead of attempting to rescue them, the crew of the Mauritius pushed those who swam alongside their ship underneath the water with poles. After the engagement there were only forty-eight men left in the Dutch ship. The yacht escaped, and reached Ternate, from which island her crew proceeded to Bantam. Van Noort continued his westward course, and was the first Netherlander to sail round the world. He reached Rotterdam on the 12th of August 1601.
The First Dutch Fort in India.
On the 26th of April 1599 Stephen van der Hagen sailed from Texel with three ships, the Zon, the Maan, and the Morgen Ster. The people of Amboina were then at war with the Portuguese, and Van der Hagen entered into an agreement with their ruler to assist him in return for a monopoly of the sale of cloves at a fixed price. In accordance with this agreement, in September 1600 under Van der Hagen’s direction a fort was built at Amboina, and when he sailed he left twenty-seven Dutch volunteers under Jan Dirkszoon Sonneberg to aid in guarding it.
No fresh discoveries on the African coast were made by any of the fleets sent out at this time, but to some of the bays new names were given.
In December 1599 four ships fitted out by an association at Amsterdam calling itself the New Brabant Company sailed from Texel for the Indies, under command of Pieter Both. Two of them returned early in 1601, leaving the Vereenigde Landen and the Hof van Holland under charge of Paulus van Caerden to follow as soon as they could obtain cargoes. On the 8th of July 1601 Van Caerden put into the watering place of São Bras on the South African coast, for the purpose of repairing one of his ships which was in a leaky condition. The commander, with twenty soldiers, went a short distance inland to endeavour to find people from whom he could obtain some cattle, but though he came across a party of eight individuals he did not succeed in getting any oxen or sheep. A supply of fresh water was taken in, but no refreshment except mussels could be procured, on account of which Van Caerden gave the inlet the name Mossel Bay, which it has ever since retained.